2013 Presenters

Note: schedule and workshops are subject to change.

Alexandra is the newest Manager of the Sunday, Hollywood Farmers’ Market. She has been working for the non-profit operator, Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA), for the past 5 years. As a SoCal native she has become a dedicated member of our vibrant local food economy.
The Hollywood Farmers’ Market is one of California’s largest Certified Farmers’ Markets and in addition to the 100+ farmers who travel to sell their produce there it is also home to a lively prepared food and local art scene. When the market began as a revitalization effort for the area in 1991, it quickly proved itself as an incubator for small businesses who couldn’t afford the general overhead associated with a traditional model.
Today the market continues to provide this service for local farmers, food vendors and artisans who set up weekly in the streets and sell their goods direct to consumers. The market is also a large supporter of creating sustainable food access and nutrition education for Los Angeles’ most needy.

Alicia DiRago is the founder and CEO of Whimseybox, a DIY/craft ecommerce and subscription business that helps people Stop Pinning + Start Making.
She started blogging in 2009 about DIY, style and design at dismountcreative.com which led to the idea + audience that turned Whimseybox from a dream to a venture-backed startup that has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, on television and online.
Alicia and her husband Joe live in Boulder, CO.

Allison Costa is a food writer and owner of Ventura Food Tours. Her work has been published in a variety of Ventura county publications including Edible Ojai and Ventura County Magazine, Ventana Monthly, and the VC Reporter. She also appears annually on Good Food with Evan Kleiman where she talks about new Ventura area eats.
Building upon her passion for all things eating and drinking in Ventura county, she launched her food walking tour business in 2011. Ventura Food Tours currently offers half-day food tasting tours in downtown Ventura and downtown Ojai.
When she’s not writing or leading food tours, this mom of three young children can be found baking in her kitchen and daydreaming about the days when she’ll have more time to be crafty.

It's hard for Amy Tan to imagine where her life would be had she not fallen in love with scrapbooking in 2007. This hobby has afforded her so many amazing opportunities – including a number of signature lines with American Crafts, many of her projects published in a variety of magazines, her own book, and the chance to meet so many inspiring people - that she is endlessly grateful for.
When she's not at home in Los Angeles, California with two mischievous Jack Russell Terriers, her long time partner, JC, and their adorable son, Jack, she is traveling, finding great places to eat, and doing her best to enjoy every moment. All while Instagramming everything along the way.
Amy loves salted caramel anything, doggy cuddles, baby giggles, palm trees, riding her beach cruiser, and nachos. Always nachos.
You can find her blogging about her life at www.amytangerine.com/blog

after 6 years working in public accounting, ana milosevic decided it was time to do what she was passionate about – teaching at the university level. ana obtained her master’s in accounting and is a licensed certified public accountant (cpa). during her public accounting career, ana worked as an auditor where she not only assured her clients’ financials were compiled correctly but also advised them in many business/ financial transactions.
at the end of 2010, ana left the corporate world and started teaching at a community college in torrance, california, where she now teaches accounting to young minds.

Andreea Ayers is a successful entrepreneur who has started and sold three companies over the last five years. Now, as the founder of www.launchgrowjoy.com, she helps creative entrepreneurs to hit a six-figure revenue stream within 18 months. And as the founder of www.SoapsToLiveBy.com she inspires others to think positively.
Her area of expertise is guiding entrepreneurs who wish to launch a consumer product line through retail outlets and the media. A frequent contributor and guest author, Andreea has been featured in Yahoo! Small Business, Design Sponge, Entrepreneur.com, Independent Retailer and Gift Shop Magazine. She is also the author of Pinterest Advantage, a guide to using Pinterest for your business.
Andreea is a mama of three and lives in Boulder, CO with her husband and kids.

angharad jones opened the the urban craft center (ucc) in 2008 in order to have people to craft with. she grew up making things all the time. when she circled things in the jc penny’s catalog for christmas it was always things like the battery operated pottery wheel and the make your own pot holder sets. she was a campfire girl too, and that is where she learned to sew and use a hot glue gun. both changed her life. she grew up in the northwest and was used to the idea of crafting as a lifestyle and was eager to see it in los angeles when she moved here. she was stunned to find so few resources, and after figuring out she was going to be in la a while, decide to start the ucc. the vision was to create a place for people to come a craft together, based on her belief that crafting is a social activity and most crafters benefit from the friendship and gatherings they form around their making. not only does angharad have a multi-faceted set of crafting and teaching skills she has extensive knowledge on how to run a brick and mortar business.

Bill Waiste is an expert in food preparation, safety and handling, and all kitchen operations. His 30+ years in restaurant operations and management, product research and development, and menu and kitchen design, have served both start-up and multi-unit companies.
He has been a Certified Trainer for Prometric and the National Restaurant Association’s Serve-Safe food handling programs since 2002. Bill was the founding Corporate Chef and Purchaser for Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, responsible for all kitchen operations while opening BG’s first 10 restaurants within 3 years. He was Director of Purchasing for Elephant Bar Restaurants, overseeing the opening and kitchen team training of 16 restaurants, and was Director of Operations for a regional pizza chain where he changed the group’s culture to excellent ratings in kitchen cleanliness and proper food handling.
Bill is currently co-founder and partner of p.o.p. candy co., where his vast experience lends a deft hand in developing new butter crunch flavors using innovative combinations of all-natural ingredients. In its five years, p.o.p. candy co. has established itself as a flourishing web-based company with large customer base and national retail sales.

Brittni Mehlhoff is an editor, curator, and craft stylist, currently living in the sunshine state.
After receiving a BFA in painting and drawing years ago, she snagged a job as a high school art teacher - spending mornings and afternoons teaching and nights painting & preparing for gallery shows. Mehlhoff quickly realized, however, that this was not the path she was meant to pursue. So she developed a plan to move out of teaching and gallery shows and into more of a curator/editor role, so she could help others with their creative endeavors. This is how Paper & Stitch was founded. After less than a year working on the site in her free-time, Brittni was able to quit her teaching gig and pursue her new venture full-time. That was in 2009 and since then, a lot has changed.
In the last several years, Mehlhoff's blog, Paper & Stitch, has been named one of the 12 most beautiful creative blogs on the internet by Bridgette.de and her work has been featured in the pages of Country Living, Woman's Day, Mollie Makes, Cloth, Fresh Home Ideas, and more. Additionally, she has worked with brands and sites such as HGTV.com, The Huffington Post, DIY Network, HP, Old Navy, and Bing, as well as working as a freelance DIY contributor for Curbly, Project Wedding, One Charming Party, and more.

Cameron and Fiona Leggett founded Lettre Sauvage in 2003.
They collaborate on fine books, prints and stationery in their Santa Paula studio. Using vintage presses, fine papers and graphic artistry, they enjoy opening their studio for classes and field trips to share the art and craft of letterpress with their community.

Carol Cho leads all of Kollabora's Business Development areas including partnerships, community and marketing efforts. Her work is focused on growing communities of creative, engaged people.
Carol has a passion for the green movement, urban gardening, exploratory road-trips, the simple life and a DIY ethos. On her free time, you can find her eating, travelling and taking in authentic experiences.
@CarolEatsAgain
Kollabora.com is a new fashion forward DIY community, connecting makers with inspiring projects, tutorials and the best hard-to-find supplies. Discover the latest fashion-forward projects in sewing, knitting, and jewelry. Our name comes from collaboro, after all, the Latin word for working together. Our users and our editorial team are inspiring and teaching each other how to make things.
We believe that we are what we make and people should have the choice between buying or making something.
@Kollabora

Cathe Holden’s began her creative career journey in the early 80s as an artist and art director for advertising agencies, ultimately running her own successful graphic design firm specializing in food and wine branding, packaging, and promotion.
Once the kids came, she scaled down business to work from home specializing in branding and logo design. Cathe segued into crafting in 2008 sharing unique and original craft project content on her blog, justsomethingimade.com where she continues to instruct and offer free graphics and images.
Cathe is a Contributing Editor for Country Living Magazine and Chronicle Book Author of Rosette Art. She teaches and speaks at creative events, was a presenter at craftcation 2012 and is currently preparing a fabulous new barn studio for future craft workshops & events on her property in beautiful Petaluma, California.

Cathy Callahan is a designer/maker based in Los Angeles. Her current projects explore techniques influenced by the work of textile artists such as Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks and Clare Zeisler. All pieces are handmade in small batches and are created in limited runs or are one-of-a-kind.
Cathy has appeared on the Martha Stewart show and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Sunset, Anthology, Mollie Makes and Frankie magazines. Her jewelry and accessories collection is available at stores such as Yolk, Poketo, A+R and The Hammer Museum.
Cathy is also works a window dresser, merchandiser and product consultant.

Chris + Jenn are a husband+wife photo team! They are two creative and talented photographers who bring his + her artistic perspectives to each event and session.
Both Chris + Jenn are helpful types who have a caring style while capturing moments from a documentary perspective. They have worked with both kids and adults to teach and train on camera basics as well as creative elements of photography.
They can't wait to meet you!

Christina Bec Atkinson began practicing yoga in early 2010.
Immediately, she fell in love with the amazing benefits of detoxification and strength that it provided her with. Never one to exercise much before, she was pleased to discover that yoga is an effective and accessible workout for any body. It encouraged her over time that amazing physical changes can be made available to anyone through patience and practice.
The three fundamental blocks of breath, balance, and patience have become invaluable to her for the simple reason that through employing those practices one can awaken the innate capacity within their own body to heal and restore itself, on and off the mat.
Christina completed her first 200 hour teacher training program from Core Power Yoga in spring of 2012, and has been enjoying teaching one on one and with small groups of clients ever since to help shine the light of that awareness to others. She loves to create a class specific to the needs of an individual. Whether it be a specific area of the body they would like to target, an emotional upset, or internal malady, yoga offers postures and techniques that in and of themselves are not "cures" but rather means to awaken in the body itself its own miraculous capacity to stimulate self-recovery.

Christine Haynes is a Los Angeles-based sewing author, teacher, and pattern designer with her own line of sewing patterns, Christine Haynes Patterns, which are perfect for the vintage-loving modern seamstress.
Her first book, Chic & Simple Sewing was published by Random House in 2009, and her newest book, The Photo Illustrated Guide to Clothing Construction will be published in February 2014 by Quarry Press. Christine’s articles have been published in SewStylish, Sew News, CraftStylish, and Craft Zine magazines and she is a regular contributor to the Craftsy Blog. She teaches sewing classes both in-person in Los Angeles at Sew L.A., and also teaches her popular Sassy Librarian Blouse on-line with Craftsy.
Her work has been featured in Threads Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Los Angeles Times, Martha Stewart's Radio Channel, People.com, LA Weekly, Daily Candy, and NBC's Today Show, among others. She has presented lectures and workshops at the American Sewing Guild conference, the 2012 and 2013 Craftcation conferences, and has contributed to other books, like One Yard Wonders.

LooHoo's® Inc, is a catering company that is based in Ventura County, California, and is committed to supporting the local economy, especially the farming community and farmers markets.
Founder Cindy Liu has had a passion for cooking since she was allowed to hold a knife.
Cindy had a non traditional journey into the food profession. She earned an MBA in international marketing and worked in brand management and marketing for Fortune 500 companies for several years. All the while, simmering in the background, was her joy of cooking.
She traveled the world to learn to cook and began catering family and friends' special events.
Cindy's passion for cooking bubbled over, and with the support of her husband, family and friends, she left her marketing job and followed her bliss to found LooHoo's Asian Comfort Food.
You can find Founder and Chef Cindy Liu teaching classes at the Lavender Inn in Ojai, occasionally on 1520AM as a guest of "805 with Tom and Sandy", co-hosting pop-up dinners throughout Ventura County and catering special events. For more information, go to www.loohoos.com and "like" their Facebook page to see what's cook'n.
Cindy lives in Thousand Oaks with her husband and their daughter.

Corinne Leigh is a crafter, a videographer, an activist, and an organic foodie. She has lived on buses that run on recycled vegetable oil, worked extensively in Haiti, made her own wedding dress, and started the largest crafting/DIY channel on YouTube, ThreadBanger.
She works with her husband, Rob, traveling the country to find and record the most inspiring things going on in the DIY movement. Together they have made over 500 videos and have amassed 45+ million video views on YouTube.

Delilah Snell is the owner of Road Less Traveled, an environmentally friendly store based in Santa Ana, California. Featured in Sunset Magazine, the Fine Living Network, LA Times, KCRW and numerous other media outlets, her store has won several awards for environmental products and education for the past 5 years.
A staunch supporter of the local food movement, Delilah has worked closely with several local farms, non-profits and community groups in marketing, product development and event planning and lectures on food sustainability for almost 10 years.
Delilah is also a Master Food Preserver and has started a line of local, organic preserves called Backyard in a Jar teaching classes on proper food preservation across the state. in 2006, she co-founded Patchwork Show with her niece Nicole to provide a high-quality, local goods in the marketplace.
A life-long resident of Orange County, she currently lives in Santa Ana and writes about local, economical living on her blog Project Small.

A former Vietnam War era Veteran. Over 20 years in the Food Service Industry in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Dwight Detter has spent the last 15 years in the grocery industry and has been with Whole Foods Market for 13 years. As a local forager for the past 2 years, Dwight has been helping start-ups get onto Whole Foods grocery shelves. He has also been teaching monthly classes on developing cottage businesses and working with community groups such as the Orange County Food Access Coalition and the San Diego Food Alliance.
Dwight is currently involved with developing a value added program with Archi’s Acres VSAT Program for returning Marines and Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Helliemae’s makes fresh creamy caramels with flavors that are hell-on-wheels intense. Starting with salted caramels, Helliemae’s now sells products including caramel sauce and other confections, and has received shout-outs from Sunset Magazine, Country Living Magazine, the Wall Street Journal and more.
Ellen’s just as fired up about helping other food and craft businesses succeed as she is about darkly-caramelized sugar.

Ernest Miller is a chef, historian, educator, consultant and speaker who teaches classes in museums, schools and kitchens throughout Southern California. He has been cooking farmers’ market fresh produce for nearly a decade. He is a Certified Sommelier and Master Food Preserver. His is co-leader of Slow Food Los Angeles. He is the founder of Rancho La Merced Provisions LLC., a producer of preserved foods and preservation equipment.

evan kleiman has been chef-owner of angeli caffe on melrose since 1984. she has been the host of good food on kcrw for almost 15 yrs. her interest in food policy is expressed through her participation on the los angeles food policy council, as a member of the stewardship council of the statewide organization roots of change and as the founder of los angeles’ slow food chapter.
she co-authored, cucina fresca, the first of seven cookbooks she has published. she’s been called the jerry garcia of cooking with the freewheeling improvisation she brings to the kitchen. evan is a sought after speaker and teacher and a noted cookbook author.

Gustavo Arellano is the editor in chief of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, California, author of Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, and lecturer with the chicana and chicano studies department at California State University, Fullerton.
He writes “¡Ask a Mexican!,” a nationally syndicated column in which he answers any and all questions about America’s spiciest and largest minority. The column has a weekly circulation of over 2 million in 39 newspapers across the United States, won the 2006 and 2008 Association of Alternative Weeklies award for Best Column, and was published in book form by Scribner Press in May 2007.
Arellano has been the subject of press coverage in national and international newspapers, The Today Show, Hannity & Colmes, Nightline, Good Morning America, and The Colbert Report, and his commentaries regularly appear on Marketplace and The Los Angeles Times. Gustavo is the recipient of the Los Angeles Press Club’s 2007 President’s Award and an Impacto award from The National Hispanic Media Coalition, and was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity, and work ethic.” Gustavo lives in Orange County and is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants, one whom was illegal.

Hannah Crum is The Kombucha Mamma, industry journalist, commercial brewing consultant, founder of Kombucha Kamp and mentor to thousands of homebrewers around the world.
Over the last 5 years, she and partner Alex LaGory have documented the dramatic growth of the bottled Kombucha business, on pace to become a billion dollar segment by 2015, while helping shepherd companies of all sizes through the commercial Kombucha process.
Want to find out what Kombucha can do for your health or your business? Visit the #1 Kombucha site in the world, KombuchaKamp.com, to learn more.

hao nguyen is a partner at a local public accounting firm which specializes in areas of taxation, financial reporting, consulting, and book-keeping. hao has over 15 years of experience in public accounting. he has advised clients on the formation of their business entities, ongoing operations of their business, sale and purchase of businesses and setting up operations in foreign countries.
he received his undergraduate degree in accounting from loyola marymount university and a master’s in taxation from the university of southern california. hao is a licensed certified public accountant and a member of the american institute of certified public accountants.

As a passionate designer and artist and full-time Multimedia Art Director for Time and Time.com, Jeanne was frustrated by the lack of quality art instruction and unique project ideas for busy people like her. Jeanne is known for turning ideas into reality, and thus Creativebug was born.
She's currently building out her student gallery whenever she can steal a few minutes of time to be creative, because now she can.

Jen was a former banker for over 13 years. She's since traded the corporate life for the creative life.
She chronicles her adventures in crocheting, sewing, baking, cooking and weekend adventures with her sis on hallojak88.blogspot.com
Her favorite vacation destination? It's a toss up between Paris and Hong Kong!

Julie Gora is a Brand Manager at MailChimp where she focuses on bloggers, publishers, and crafters. A good chunk (and her favorite part!) of her job takes her around the world meeting current and potential MailChimp fans, answering any questions they have, and handing out chimp hats and t-shirts along the way.
When she isn’t collecting frequent flyer miles, she is learning to knit, decorating her apartment, shopping for anything bright, and searching for the perfect puppy to adopt.

Kari Chapin is a writer, teacher, and mentor who works with hand-makers, business people, and future authors from all over the world. She currently has three books on the shelves, the best sellers: The Handmade Marketplace and Grow Your Handmade Business and a book she co-wrote with needle felt artist, Kerri Wessel, Feltlicious.
Kari travels the country speaking to arts and crafts groups, at conferences, and on college campuses, inspiring and motivating audiences on topics ranging from owning and operating a creativity based business to following your big dreams. She manages a popular online members-only group called Kari’s Creative Community, where hundreds of creative business owners gather online to support and encourage one another all in the pursuit of making their businesses the best they can be. Kari also works one-on-one with aspiring authors, helping them to take their book ideas to the next level.
Kari has her own line of products to support creative business owners that will be released in 2015 and an updated version of The Handmade Marketplace will be released in summer of 2014. She happily lives her best creative life in Portland, Oregon with her husband Eric, who is also a writer. To connect with Kari and learn more about her books, and her services, including Kari’s Creative Community, please visit www.KariChapin.com and be sure to sign up for her newsletter.

kathy cano-murillo is a writer and artist. since 1990, she has sold her handmade “chicano pop art” crafts to hundreds of retailers including bloomingdales, target, and hallmark. from 2000-2008, she wrote a weekly syndicated arizona republic newspaper column for eight years, and has authored seven books including crafty chica’s art de la soul and crafty chica’s guide to artful sewing.
in 2001, kathy launched craftychica.com, a wildly popular web site to inspire women to brighten their lives with clever craft ideas. she had a podcast series on itunes, a web series on lifetimetv.com, has been profiled in the new york times, usa today and npr, and now has a crafty chica product line.
kathy’s mission is to promote, celebrate and share in the american craft experience. many of kathy’s designs show a love for her mexican-american culture. as a professional crafter, she is impressed that latinos make up a large part of the $31 billion craft industry. her goal is to promote and motivate women of all backgrounds, ages and ethnicities to join in the art and craft movement.
when she isn’t creating, she writes novels. her “crafty chica novel” series debuted in march 2010 with waking up in the land of glitter (grand central publishing). her next book, miss scarlet’s school of patternless sewing was released in march, 2011.
kathy lives in phoenix, az, with her husband, two kids and five chihuahuas. her motto for life is “crafts, drama and glitter”.

Kayte Terry has been a maker and designer for as long as she can remember. She has worked in the visual department for Anthropologie for over a decade, first in stores all over the country and currently in Philadelphia at the company’s home office.
When she’s not dreaming up new concepts and displays for Anthro, she keeps busy writing books, making art and keeping her blog, This is Love Forever, a journal of beautiful things she loves. Kayte is the author of three books: Creative Embellishing (Collins & Brown), Applique Your Way (Chronicle) and Paper Made (Workman). She has contributed to numerous books including: Vintage Craft Workshop, Bead Simple, World of Geekcraft and Signature Styles.
Kayte’s crafty projects (sewing, paper craft, embroidery-she’ll try them all!) have been featured on numerous blogs such as design*sponge, decor8, Real Simple blog, Apartment Therapy, Etsy and Creature Comforts.
You can keep up with her crafty adventures on her blog This is Love Forever.

Laura Avery has been managing the Santa Monica Farmers Market since 1982, one year after the market first opened. The Farmers Market program now consists of four weekly markets that serve 160 California small farms and over 20,000 customers per week. In addition to featuring the best local and sustainably grown produce, the markets also offer educational programs such as quarterly Library Panels, Follow That Chef cooking classes and produce pointers classes to youth around the City of Santa Monica. Laura's "Farmers Market Report" can be heard each week on KCRW's "Good Food" with host Evan Kleiman.

Lisa Tauber is a lifestyle editor at Chronicle Books, an independent publisher in San Francisco, where she acquires in the craft, style, and home décor categories.
She has worked with numerous crafters and bloggers on developing their books. Her recent titles include: Woolbuddies: 20 Irresistibly Simple Needle-Felting Projects, Put Your Stamp On It, Knitting by Design, Bring the Outdoors In: Garden Projects for Decorating and Styling Your Home, and Rosette Art.
In her spare time, she is an avid crafter and a photography dabbler.

Marlo Miyashiro (a.k.a. IMakeCuteStuff.com) is a jeweler by trade, crafter of sewn things, teacher of photography techniques at SmallObjectPhotography.com and mentor / arts business consultant for emerging artists at CreativeArtsConsulting.com.
She has been in the retail and wholesale craft industries for over 20 years and has had her independent jewelry line represented by over 200 shops and galleries all over the country and abroad. She served as the organizer of the Seattle Etsy sellers team formerly known as etsyRAIN for seven years and is now one of the organizers of SeattleHandmade.com – an inclusive community supporting artists and craft makers based in the Puget Sound.

Melanie Falick is the publishing director of STC Craft / Melanie Falick Books, an imprint of ABRAMS that publishes 12-15 craft/DIY titles per year.
Her responsibilities include acquiring and editing books, working with marketing, publicity, and sales departments on building the success of individual titles and the imprint as a whole, and representing the imprint and promoting craft/DIY at relevant events around the country and on social media.
Formerly the editor-in-chief of Interweave Knits magazine, she is also the author of five knitting books with over 400,000 copies in print. She currently teaches four classes on Creativebug.com. She lives in Beacon, New York.

In business with Clean Getaway Soap Co., husband and wife Mikel and Lindsey have constructed (and torn down) over 75 craft fair booths, and bring a unique and effective perspective on booth design that sits at the intersection of creativity and functionality.
Clean Getaway Soap Co.’s travelling road show has been all over this great land including national shows Renegade Craft Fair, The Maker Faire and Patchwork Show, as well as scores of local festivals and markets throughout the Southwest. Their craft show booth, and consequently their business, has been featured in Sunset Magazine, Phoenix New Times, Denver’s Westword, blogs including HappyCamperBlog.com and Thriftary.blogspot.com, in a story syndicated nationally by the Associated Press and, most recently, in the Orange County Register for their display at Patchwork.
Mikel and Lindsey bring humor and insight to the discussion with years of public speaking and presentation experience shared between them.

Mimi G. is creator and editor of mimigstyle.com, a popular Fashion, Style and DIY Blog with a loyal following of fabulous people who share their same enthusiasm for creating. Every day thousands of followers check-in to learn everything from sewing, to choosing fabric for the right pattern or DIY project, to finding out what she wore on her "Daily Look" postings.
As a self taught seamstress, Mimi G. began in the fashion world as an indie designer and in spring 2010 released her first ready to wear collection; although a gratifying experience she found her true love was in teaching her passion for creating. As a mommy and wife who works in the entertainment industry by day and sews by night, she started blogging as a way to keep a living diary of her own sewing adventures. Over time, the popularity of her sewing tutorials, pattern reviews and on trend looks for less turned her personal blog into a full time business.
With over 20 years of experience, she has focused her energy on reaching young, fashionable and savvy women and introducing them to a new and fresh approach to garment sewing.Mimi recently partnered with Bernina of America and joined the Bernina WeAllSew blogger family.
In 2012, she hosted the 1st Annual "Meet, Shop + Learn" in Los Angeles, CA where women gathered from all parts of the US to meet Mimi G. and spend a full day asking questions, learning about fitting and measurements and enjoying a shopping tour of the Los Angeles Fabric District. The event was a complete success and preparation for a 2 day "Sewing, Fashion + Style" Workshop for 2013 has begun.

Devon Iott (Miss Make) is an avid maker, baker and nature lover who teaches sewing in Los Angeles.
She runs the popular website Miss Make, an online collection of tutorials and recipes that chronicles her addition to making things. She also sells her own line of sewing patterns in stores and online.
If she isn't sewing she's probably knitting, crocheting or experimenting in the kitchen.

morgan has shown her wearable art and fashion design work in several other countries, including in new Zealand's world of wearable art. Morgan has created her own fashion lines of hand-painted leggings (LAYGS) and one-of-a-kind formal gowns. originally from chicago, morgan lives, works, and teaches in inglewood, California. morgan received her mfa in 2009 from washington university in St. Louis.

Nicole Blum and Debra Immergut have worked together to develop many creative projects for FamilyFun magazine, where Debra is a senior editor. Nicole is an artist, crafter, blogger, and sewing entrepreneur who sells her sewn jersey creations through her blog One Golden Apple and at craft fairs. Debra and Nicole both live in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts and blog together at Our Improv Diary. They are the authors of Improv Sewing.

Nicole's path includes time as a creative writing graduate student in San Francisco, street artist on the Venice Beach boardwalk, costume designer, Hollywood flea market art vendor, DIY workshop instructor, co-founder of a non-profit that produced art shows benefiting charities, owner and designer of Random Nicole an art-inspired clothing line carried at over 250 locations and owner of craft workshop studio and retail store: The Craft Kitchen.
These days, Nicole can be found creating illustrations and designs for Show and Tell Design Studio, co-producing Patchwork Show: Modern Creative Festival and Craftcation: Creative Business and Makers Conference and writing about business, making and her adventures for the blog Dear Handmade Life.
Nicole and her ventures have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NBC.com, The Los Angeles Times, Apartment Therapy, NPR, Riviera Magazine, Daily Candy, PaperCrafts Magazine, The OC Weekly and others.
When she’s not working, you may find her breaking up scuffles between her dog and three chickens, couch crafting while watching a film she’s seen too many times to count, playing guitar with her husband, sitting in her backyard with good friends and a margarita while playing Cards vs. Humanity or squeezing in time for a quick trip to a lovely place where people are scarce and trees are not.

Nicole Vasbinder is the owner of StitchCraft, a hip sewing studio and fabric store in Petaluma, CA. Nicole has taught thousands of people the joy of sewing over the last decade through her popular sewing, patternmaking and design classes.
In addition to classes at StitchCraft, she teaches classes at Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley and was a longtime teacher at Stitch Lounge in San Francisco. Nicole has also designed the accessory line Queen Puff Puff since 2003 and sells her designs throughout the United States and beyond.
Prior to starting her own company, she worked as a designer and merchandiser in the garment industry. She is an alumnus of the Academy of Art University and Otis College of Art & Design and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Craft Stylish, Adorn, and Craft.
Her first book, Sewing Solutions – Tips and Techniques for the Savvy Sewists, was published Fall 2012 by Interweave Press and her next book, Sewing Machine Secrets, comes out Spring 2013.

Nina Eve Zeininger is only truly happy when making art and helping others to be creative. Born and raised in New England, she has been obsessed with books since receiving Harold and the Purple Crayon as a child.
While earning her BFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute, she took as many book and printmaking classes as possible and has been making books ever since. She now spends her time working as a non-profit arts administrator, teaching and tutoring letterpress and book arts, making and selling her printed and bookish wares, and learning French.
You can follow Nina Eve on her blog of photos and life, Things I Make and Find, and you can view her work at her Etsy store, neon sprinkles studio.

My name is Phil McGrath and I am a fifth generation farmer from Oxnard. We are located 55 miles north of Los Angeles and 7 miles from the coast, which creates a Mediterranean type climate for growing year round. With this tremendous advantage, my goal to all my markets is to grow as many things as possible in their season.
We grow everything from strawberries and baby vegetables to legumes and flowers. This is not only attractive to our customers, but it is also advantageous to our sustainable growing methods of crop diversity and rotation. We take great pride in supplying our customers with the freshest organic fruits and vegetables. Most all of our products are picked the same day as delivery, with a guarantee that nothing is over 24 hours old. We are very interested in special order growing for hard to get items (celeric, rappini, etc). We are open to any suggestions to our marketing techniques. We would like to encourage you to visit our farm! We do many farm tours and specialize in farm education for children. The practical lessons I have learned on the farm serve me well in my work with various regulatory agencies and boards. I hope to be an important voice for the farm community. I have been a part of the farmer market Southland Association and now serve on Farm Worker Housing in Ventura County Committee as well as the Los Angeles Food Policy Task force.

A regular craft blogger for eHow.com, (Rad)Megan has video workshops on creativebug.com and lynda.com covering various craft and photography techniques.
She is a craft & photography instructor and writer, who has been featured on TV's KTLA Morning News, The Doctors (CBS), TLC's Craft Wars, and has had work featured in BUST Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Kids Crafts 123, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, MAKE and Apartment Therapy.
She currently lives in Los Angeles with her loving husband, sweet baby and 500+ carnivorous plants she raised by hand.

Rhea Tepp is a Co-Founder and Organizer of L.A. Zine Fest, an annual event celebrating writers, illustrators, cartoonists, printmakers, small press publishers and a celebration of D.I.Y culture. The first annual Fest in 2012 welcomed over 1,200 attendees throughout the day and featured 100 vendors, plus workshops and panel discussions. She teaches writing, zine workshops and print making year round as well as an active organizer in the underground music and arts community.

Rob Czar has been creating online video content for nearly 10 years working for such companies as AOL,Yahoo, MTV, Youtube and more.
After finding his love for DIY reconstructing old band shirts while living and reporting from concerts around the world, he started Threadbanger.com along with his then girlfriend, Corinne.

Rosalie Gale is a waterproof Shower Art maker, ex-stand-up comedian and blogger who is currently obsessed with German board games and free motion embroidery. She created and maintains Unanimous Craft - a directory of resources for Indie Business and EtsySaver - a site where Etsy sellers can submit coupons and Etsy shoppers can search for deals. In her spare time, she opened a brick and mortar retail shop in the Pike Place Market called Ugly Baby and La Ru.

SARAH JAMES recently transitioned from being a prolific author and editor of the Food & Living channels on Instructables.com under the name scoochmaroo into the new Thinktank Manger for Betabrand, an SF-based clothing company that designs, manufactures, and releases new inventions every week.
Previously, she was a tailor for American Conservatory Theatre, make-up artist for Blue Man Group, and starred in a national tour of an original play.
Part time mathemagician, mask maker, and NYT Sunday crossword enthusiat, Sarah received her MFA in theatrical design and technology from UT-Austin.
She is the editor of the new book, How to do Absolutely Everything (Skyhorse), and many top ebooks available free for download.
Pin, tweet, 'book, 'gram, tumble, et al: @scoochmaroo

maybe it's the fact that he grew up in the napa valley but seth stanton likes to talk about wine. let's be honest, he likes to talk about food too.
he's spent two decades in restaurants becoming a master of both the front and the back of the house. Seth's background in all things edible and drinkable led him to mount shasta where he was the chef and wine director for a rustic sustainable mountain bistro.
Currently, seth works at frog's leap winery in rutherford where he leads wine tastings, vineyard tours and is the in-house chef. As a cooking instructor in the bay area, seth shares his extensive knowledge of creating field to fork meals and wine making with his students.
2012 will be the first vintage of his zinfandel and the start of his wine making empire (fingers crossed).

Steph Calvert is the owner, designer, and illustrator behind Hearts and Laserbeams. Her web, design and illustration work has been seen worldwide on apparel, in print, and online.
Steph has been self employed since 2010, working with small business to take their design and illustration to the next level. She speaks at conferences on design and small business topics, co-produces the Work. Life. Branding. web series, and is poised to self-publish a children’s book about dreams. She's been blogging since 2002, and has written the book on SEO for bloggers.
Steph shares her home with her hilarious partners in crime: husband Josh, son Phil, daughter Joy, and mom-in-law Carole, along with a slew of animals that can best be described as more than a little farmy. She enjoys coloring with her son, karaoke, and a good glass of wine every now and then. (But preferably now, thanks.)
Join her online : web | facebook | twitter | pinterest | instagram | google+ | youtube | tumblr

Yanked away from playing video games, an 8-year-old Steph Cortes was taught to embroider small handkerchiefs by her grandmother during long San Francisco summer vacations. With a love for colour & knack for doodling, she started designing her own patterns before she was 9. A teacher to local kids at age 11 & a small card company owner by 13, Steph has always had a desire to help spread awesomeness to the masses.
After starting her crafty business, nerd JERK, in 2009, she decided to learn everything she could to succeed at rockin’ it out on Etsy! She soon began offering help & advice to other local creatives and Steph became the Co-Captain for the SF Etsy Team. She was recently invited to be one of 15 Etsy Educators to be certified to teach small businesses all she knows on what it takes to create a memorable brand & connect with customers.
When she’s not teaching, crocheting or playing video games, Steph can be found making her grandmother giggle, cuddling her twin ninja cats or making art with her super-quiet husband.
More of her geek cred can be found at nerdJERK.blogspot.com.

Sé Reed is a fan of the digital revolution. Through her consulting company, Sé Reed Media, she develops, codes, and manages multiple award-winning websites. As a business adviser for the Small Business Development Center's Los Angeles Regional Network, she helps small and micro businesses in every imaginable industry develop their web presence through websites, social media, search engine optimization, and traditional marketing.
In 2003, Sé co-founded award-winning independent bookstore {open} in Long Beach, CA, through which she has produced special events of every sort and scale, and where she revels in the non-digital loveliness of paper, type and all things book.

Gardiner Connections is founded by Tara Gardiner who has worked in numerous industries in sales and marketing for the past 12 years. Her in-depth experience ranges from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, including those in the architectural and design community, natural products industry, pet industry, fashion industry, and with technical and specialty products. Gardiner earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Marketing from Michigan State University and has studied
at the University of London in England, Scotland and Ireland. Currently based in Los Angeles, California, Gardiner Connections services clients throughout the United States.
When she is not helping people assemble their empires, Tara enjoys spending time with four-legged child, Bella. She enjoys relaxing with yoga or hiking, cooking, painting, loves traveling and is a craft beer aficionado.
Gardiner Connections brings an artwork of business to the canvas of your company, utilizing branding, sales and marketing strategies to create a masterpiece of success and profitability. As a professional consulting service for multiple sectors, Gardiner Connections connects people and resources. With expertise in sales leadership and marketing, our firm maps a clear route for new and aspiring businesses, guiding them from launch to landing. Companies seeking growth opportunities can also benefit from an evaluation of their business strategies. Our customized branding and streamlining processes take the guesswork out of business and execute a concise vision for clients.
Our philosophy entails bringing passion, creativity, open communication, and ethical practices to the companies we serve

You might know Tiffany Han as a life and business coach, but really she's a Champion of Awesome, helping highly-creative women take bold action in their businesses...and their lives. She helps women raise their hands and say yes: to those things they've always thought about doing, to those things that sound crazy out loud, and to themselves.
Her clients range from illustrators, painters, and graphic designers to wannabe-cubicle jailbirds who are tired of putting their dreams on hold.She's been featured on designformankind.com, Paper & Stitch, and Click Magazine and has been called a professional Yoda and a Mary Poppins for creative businesses by her clients. When she's not getting her coaching on, you can find her exploring the San Francisco Bay Area, having spontaneous dance parties with her twin girls and watching So You Think You Can Dance marathons. Find your yes and get started at tiffanyhan.com.

For more than a decade, Victoria was a top fashion and celebrity journalist who was widely published in the Los Angeles Times, style.com, C magazine, USA Today, InStyle, Los Angeles Confidential and Huffington Post. Now she's a copywriter and social media manager for South Coast Plaza, FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Sally Hansen and the vintage mecca The Way We Wore.
In her spare time she enjoys weekend getaways to the desert, collecting Jonathan Adler, buying vintage jewelry and sharing amazing meals with her husband. Visit agiftedsociety.com to learn more.